864 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Dr. II. P. Stearns, of the Hartford (Con- 

 necticut) Retreat for the Insane, accounts for 

 the increased amount of disease of the nerv- 

 ous system observed of late years, by refer- 

 ence to the larger part of the twenty-four 

 hours which the masses of the people spend 

 within-doors. A far greater part of the 

 population than used to be are employed in 

 counting-houses, business-offices, stores, and 

 factories, inhaling a heated and contami- 

 nated atmosphere, the effect of which upon 

 the delicate structure of the brain can not 

 but be most unfavorable. 



Mr. II. W. S. Cleveland, in his impor- 

 tant pamphlet on " The Culture and Manage- 

 ment of our Native Forests," says that we 

 must learn to imitate Nature in our methods 

 of cultivation, if we would grow new forests 

 successfully. The primary point is to keep 

 the trunks of the trees shaded. Nature 

 does this by massing the plants closely to- 

 gether in the forests, so that they shade 

 each other, or by giving a wide spread of 

 limbs with low heads to trees in the open. 

 It also protects the cambium layer with 

 thick deposits of old bark, and we endanger 

 the health of the tree when we scrape this 

 off. Another important point is to keep 

 the roots well mulched, as nature does with 

 old leaves, thick mold, and mosses in the 

 forest ; and a third point is to protect the 

 trees well from the southwest wind the 

 breeze which, with its drying heat, is the 

 most damaging to the vitality of the tree. 

 In illustration of the validity of this rule 

 Mr. Cleveland points to the greater luxu- 

 riance and variety of plant-life on the east 

 side of seas and lakes than on the west side. 



Professor Francis Maitland Balfour, 

 of the University of Cambridge, lost his life 

 about the 19th of July, while attempting 

 the passage of the Aiguille Blanche de 

 Penteret, one of the buttresses of Mont 

 Blanc, in Switzerland. He was only about 

 thirty years old, but had done a very large 

 amount of original biological work for one 

 so young. Having entered Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, as a natural science scholar, he 

 decided, upon the suggestion of Professor 

 Michael Foster, to apply himself at once to 

 original work instead of going through the 

 ordinary routine preparation for his degree. 

 He was afterwards encaged at the zoological 

 station at Naples, and then at Naples and 

 Cambridge alternately, and had just been 

 honored by the creation of a special chair 

 of Animal Morphology for him at the uni- 

 versity. He was the author of a work of 

 eminent merit on the " Development of the 

 Elasmobranch Fishes," and had begun a 

 work on " Comparative Embryology." 



Tiie English unit, or parliamentary 

 standard, for the estimation of the inten- 

 sity of light, is a spermaceti-candle, six to 



the pound, burning 120 grains an hour. 

 The French standard, or carcel, a lamp 

 burning 42 grammes of refined colza-oil per 

 hour, with a flame 40 millimetres high, is 

 reckoned as equivalent to 9*5 candles. The 

 English standard for gas-lights is an Argand 

 burner with sixteen holes, in a chimney five 

 inches high and two inches in diameter, 

 burning five feet of standard gas per hour, 

 and giving a light of sixteen candles. The 

 German standard, or Vercinskerze, is a paraf- 

 fine-candle 20 millimetres in diameter, with 

 a flame five centimetres high, 7 '6 of which 

 are equivalent to a carcel. The variations 

 of the carcel burner do not exceed two or 

 three per cent, while those of the standard 

 candles sometimes rise to thirty per cent. 



TnE later experiments of Professor W. 

 0. At water and his aids on the effects of 

 fertilizers and the feeding capacities of 

 plants, as recorded in a paper just published 

 by the Agricultural Department, indicate 

 that Indian corn has a much greater power 

 of gathering nitrogen from the soil or air 

 or both than it has been credited with ; 

 that in this respect it comes nearer to the 

 legumes than to the cereals ; and that it may 

 eventually claim a right to be classed with 

 the " renovating " crops. The experiments 

 are, however, not yet considered decisive. 

 Professor Atwater, projecting a plan for 

 continued experiments in the line to which 

 his report is devoted, suggests that chemical 

 and physical surveys of the land in behalf 

 of agriculture ought to be undertaken, just 

 as there have been topographical and geo- 

 logical surveys in behalf of other industries 

 and interests. 



The death is announced, July 16th, of 

 Dr. George Dickie, Professor of Botany in 

 the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, for 

 seventeen years, and previously for several 

 years in the Queen's College, Belfast. lie 

 retired from active duty, on account of im- 

 paired health, in 1877. He was the author 

 of numerous papers and several books on 

 botanical subjects. He was especially in- 

 terested in the study of alga?. 



Professor William Stanley Jevons, 

 the philosopher and Professor of Political 

 Economy, was drowned while bathing at 

 Bexhill, near Hastings, England, August 

 15th. Professor Jevons was a grandson of 

 William Roscoe, the merchant author, and 

 was born in Liverpool, in 1835. He was 

 connected with the Royal Mint at Sydney, 

 Australia, for five years after 1854, and 

 was appointed Professor of Logic and Moral 

 Philosophy and Lecturer on Political Econ- 

 omy in Owens College, Manchester, in 1866, 

 and Professor of Political Economy in the 

 University of London in 1872. He was the 

 author of several works in logic and polit- 

 ical economy, which are recognized as au- 

 thoritative. 



